While this affects only a few of us on here, it's nice to hear about this for this it does affect. NYS Gov. George Pataki is scheduled to stop in Rochester today 16JAN02 and at 11am make an announcment that AirTran is returning to Rochester. Service would begin March 14th with 2 roundtrip flights between ROC and BWI and 2 round trip flights between ROC and ATL. This is Rochester's 2ns low fare carrier and hopefully will help to lower the prices at ROC which are currently like he 4th or 6th hghest in the nation.

AirTran Airways Announces New Service to Rochester, N.Y.
Daily Nonstop Jet Service to Baltimore and Atlanta
ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2002--AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAI - news), today announced that the low-fare airline will launch new daily nonstop service to Monroe County's Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC), AirTran Airways' 37th destination. In addition to two daily nonstop flights between Rochester and Atlanta, the airline will launch two daily nonstop flights between Rochester and Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). Service begins March 14, 2002, and tickets are now available for purchase.

``AirTran Airways is extremely pleased to announce service to the Greater Rochester International Airport and to be expanding our Atlanta and BWI networks,'' said Joe Leonard, AirTran Airways' chairman and chief executive officer. ``This new service is a direct result of the cooperation between public and private entities bringing travel options to upstate New York. We anticipate that these daily low-fare flights to BWI and to Atlanta with connections to more than twenty destinations will be a welcome change to the third largest urban area in New York.''

``We've been studying the Rochester market for some time. We're proud to bring our brand of low-fare, high-quality service, including our affordable Business Class, all assigned seating, the A2B corporate program, and A-Plus Rewards frequent traveler program to the residents of the Greater Rochester area,'' said Kevin Healy, AirTran Airways' vice president of planning.

``I'm pleased to welcome AirTran Airways to the Greater Rochester area. This addition stimulates and strengthens the local economy and reflects our commitment to improving the quality of life of our citizens,'' said George E. Pataki, governor of the state of New York.

``AirTran Airways' presence in Monroe County will bring competitive airfares to our leisure and business travelers,'' said County Executive Jack Doyle. ``Affordable service to key business markets such as Atlanta and BWI is a goal we've had for a long time and will greatly enhance our position as we continue our economic development efforts to retain, recruit and expand local employers.''

AirTran Airways is offering special introductory fares as low as $39 one-way between Rochester and BWI and as low as $59 one-way between Rochester and Atlanta to celebrate the new service. All introductory fare tickets must be purchased by January 30, 2002, and travel must be completed by June 13, 2002. Introductory fares require a seven-day advance purchase. Listed below are sample one-way fares (fares are valid in either direction).

AirTran Airways provides affordable air travel with 336 flights a day to 36 cities throughout the eastern United States. The airline's hub is at the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, where it is the second largest carrier operating 146 flights a day. AirTran Airways is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAI - news).

Unlike other airlines, AirTran Airways never requires a roundtrip purchase or Saturday night stay. The airline offers a Business Class any business can afford, all-assigned seating, a generous frequent flier program, and a corporate program called A2B. For more information and reservations, visit http://www.airtran.com (America Online Keyword: AirTran), call your travel agent or AirTran Airways at 1-800-AIRTRAN (800/247-8726) or 770/994-8258 in Atlanta.

Rules and restrictions: All fares are one way. All fares are non-refundable and a $50 fee per person applies to any change made after purchase plus any applicable increase in airfare. Introductory fares require a seven-day advance purchase. Introductory fares must be purchased by January 30, 2002, and travel must be completed by June 13, 2002. Blackout dates include; March 28, 29, April 1, 7 and May 24, 28, 2002. Service to/from Rochester begins March 14, 2002. Seats are limited, subject to availability and may not be available on all flights. Fares, routes and schedules are subject to change without notice. Fares do not include per-segment tax of $3.00. A segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing. Airport Passenger Facility Charges of up to $18 are not included.

Had to take another break from studying for comps today and come to the forum....WOO HOO! Finally, low-fare service between the DC area and Rochester!

AirTran should find that flights from ROC to BWI and ATL both do well. The Rochester-DC market has suffered by far the worst post-Sept. 11 capacity cuts of any ROC market. US cut its 3 daily 733's to DCA, and plans to restore the service with 3 daily Dash 8's in March. I flew those flights regularly, and am certain that 3 Dash 8's will not be enough seat capacity, Sept. 11 or no Sept. 11. AirTran must know this too.

Atlanta and DC/ Baltimore are both big business markets from Rochester, so AirTran shouldn't have trouble filling its business class seats as well.

AirTran should publicize heavily the fact that BWI, unlike Dulles, has direct one-seat rail service to downtown DC. Once the people mover from BWI's terminal to the rail station is up and running, BWI will be even better.

Anyone know what gate AirTran will use at ROC? When they were at ROC as the pre-Valujet Orlando carrier, they used Northwest's B1. They don't compete with Northwest, so I wouldn't be surprised for this arrangement to happen again.

And yes, I'd look for AirTran to be in Syracuse very soon too. SYR has suffered service cuts as bad as ROC's. I've heard and read that AirTran is in close negotiations with Syracuse as well.

There was NO, repeat NO mention in the local media about an iminent AirTran return. Generally, in this town, whenever Johnson or Doyle have a minute fantasy, it gets touted as if it were ironclad reality (The Toronto Ferry, Bus Terminal, Performing Arts Center and other works of fiction). They trumpeted JetBlue in the paper for a year, yet Airtran just sorta popped up. Weird.

"Sympathy is something that shouldn't be bestowed on the Yankees. Apparently it angers them." - Bob Feller

As mentioned by LHMark,this marks the 717's debut in lowly ROC. Even shoed a couple on ch 13. Too bad we won't be able to take any descent pictures of 'em due to the new sheriff kick-out-the-spotter patrols !!! We'll have to settle for thru-the-glass terminal shots. Have any other fellow ROC spotters encountered the new sheriff patrols???

Mark....there actually was a lengthy article about this in the Rochester Business Journal in November. I don't read RBJ, but a friend spotted the article and pointed it out to me. Doyle and Slaybaugh had been talking to AirTran for awhile. In the article, Joe Leonard said that underserved, overcharged cities like Rochester are the kind of place AirTran "really likes." The article said that AirTran is also in close talks with Syracuse. But the article gave no suggestion that the negotiations were approaching any conclusion.

I figured that nothing had come of it yet, since nothing appeared in the D & C. Also, when I asked an AirTran employee at BWI about ROC service a couple of weeks ago, he said he'd heard nothing about any ROC plans. So this news did kind of 'pop up.'

I noticed in the Delta timetable I got today that they're down to *three* 727-200s daily from ROC to ATL, down from the five they've had since the early 1990's. More service to ATL can't come soon enough. And as I mentioned earlier more jet service to the DC area is welcome too. :+)

There was a brief mention in the D & C of the County having talks with Air Tran a month or 2 ago, I believe. But you're right, todays news came with no advance warning, and it's great! Looking forward to seeing and working the MD-95(I refuse to say 717! LOL) here. Not sure what the gate assignments will be for them. Midway's old gate is the obvious choice, but they'll be overnighting 2 aircraft here and I don't know if there's room to have both of them parked there at the same time.

Jim- Allegheny is starting their 3 DH-8 flights a day to DCA on Feb 3rd now, instead of the original March start up. There was an article in the paper, and more than a few people are not happy with lack of jet service, and said they would push US Air to restore the jet service. Who know's what'll happen there. At the same time service resumes to DCA with the DH-8's, the ROC-BWI flights will be cut from 4 a day to 3 a day, and will switch from Allegheny to Trans States with Jetstream 41's.

United Fan- Where exactly are the Sheriff's kicking you out of? I haven't taken a lot pics lately, but I was able to stand on the upper level of the terminal road, right by the Delta gates, and didn't have any trouble.

Holy mackerel! What on earth is US Airways thinking? As a regular DC Area-ROC passenger I feel confident rejecting their contention that 3 DH8's to DCA and 3 Jetstreams to BWI will be enough to serve that market. For crying out loud, it was 3 733's and 4 DH8's before Sept. 11. They want us to believe that demand on this major route from ROC is down 80% since Sept 11? NOT.

UA has cut ROC-IAD heavily too, so they haven't been any help.

It ounds like US is just handing this market to AirTran. I'm already planning my next trip to ROC, on AirTran. Fine with me. I'd rather fly in a comfy 717 for a low fare than fly on US's damn turboprop for a high fare.

My dad told me in late December that he was sure the D & C had reported that JetBlue is considering an ROC-IAD flight. This seems unlikely to me, but a JetBlue employee at ROC told me that wasn't out of the question. Have any of you heard anything?

I wonder if US Airways isn't going to sell off some of their slots at DCA, they don't seem to be restoring the full levels of service they had. It'd be good to see some of the Northeast-serving low-fare carriers get in there.

The changes to the US Air schedule happened at least a week ago, well before Air Tran's announcement today. Perhaps this will spur US Air to restore jet service to DCA quickly, and to lower it's fares in the process. We can only hope! I'd love to see the jet service restored, and both airlines do well. Maybe Delta will take notice as well, with the competition on the ROC-ATL route, and restore 5 flights a day from the present 3 a day. The more jet service we get here, the better! Even Southwest doesn't seem completely out of the question now. Air Tran serves ATL from BUF, but not BWI. With Air Tran coming to ROC and taking back ROC's share of folks who drive to BUF to get the low fare Southwest flights, it isn't completely unthinkable that Southwest could come here, unlike before.

Jet Blue ROC-IAD is an interesting possibility, but just from my own point of view unlikely to happen anytime soon. They are restoring the 5th roundtrip to JFK on FEB 1 though, so things are definitely looking up here!

As far as US Air's slots into DCA, I believe the DCA capacity has been cut by the FAA. Every city that was served from DCA prior to Sept 11 will be served by Feb 3, but the total # of operations there has been cut down.

I was sitting near gate 19,where the fire dept driveway is. The cops said that everytime someone parks on that road,the 'tower' calls 911 and says it's a suspicious condition. Any truth to that? This just started a couple weeks ago. I told em that there are no signs,but they said that there are signd on the fence- I said that means no trespassing inside the fence.
Anyway,it's good to see a 717 here,I'll just have to watch from Gottry's parking lot!

Yes,I knew that they always did,but 2 weeks ago they wouldn't let people park down there. I was wondering why-I e-mailed the airport & sheriffs but-of course-NO RESPONSE! Is it just a couple cops on a power trip or what? As far as I ever saw,people behaved themselves there.
Thanks!

Thank you Jetblue. See what there doing to our once high fared airport. Hey if you guys want a good spoting spot go down 15A and i park right on the side of the road 500 feet from runway 4. Its a good spot and ive used it a few times without problems